![]() But Fussell is at his best as he examines the forced high-mindedness of official wartime rhetoric and the growth of "Accentuate the Positive"-toned publicity as a distinctly essential facet of modern war. A chapter on "chickenshit" reveals loathsome small-mindedness endemic in the system the chapter title "Drinking Far Too Much, Copulating Too Little" nicely sums up the G.I.'s preoccupations. Beginning with a discussion of our total unpreparedness and general incompetence-"precision" bombing often fell on our own troops the RAF were in danger from their own frightened ground support-Fussell turns to the popular rumors, slang, stories, and humor of the troops. By turns amusing and shocking, Fussell's unforgivingly cleareyed vision takes in both official and uncensored ephemera-along with published accounts-to overturn the upbeat view of the war promulgated by both the government's publicity machine and the general media. Fussell ( Class Abroad Samuel Johnson and the Life of Writing, etc.) continues the revelatory work he did in his National Book Award-winning The Great War and Modern Memory (1975). ![]() In this engaging, elegant, and enlightening study of WW II. ![]()
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